1. Isaiah 9:8-10:4

2. Isaiah 5:25 “Therefore the anger of the LORD is aroused against His people; He has stretched out His hand against them And stricken them, And the hills trembled. Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still.”

3. Isaiah 5:24 “Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, And the flame consumes the chaff, So their root will be as rottenness, And their blossom will ascend like dust; Because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.”

4. Isaiah 9:8-12 “The Lord has spoken out against Jacob; His judgment has fallen upon Israel.”

5. “And the people of Israel and Samaria, who spoke with such pride and arrogance, will soon know it. They said, ‘We will replace the broken bricks of our ruins with finished stone, and replant the felled sycamore-fig trees with cedars.’”

6. “Instead of humbling themselves before the face of God on account of the many calamities that had already descended on them, they still entertained a lighthearted optimism regarding the future. This optimism manifested itself in the slogans that were current in that day and apparently on everybody’s lips.” Harry Bultema

7. “But the LORD will bring Rezin’s enemies against Israel and stir up all their foes. The Syrians from the east and the Philistines from the west will bare their fangs and devour Israel. But even then the LORD’s anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike.”

8. “Calvin could say of his day, more than 500 years ago: “How many are the distresses with which Europe has been afflicted for thirty or forty years? How many are the chastisements by which she has been called to repentance?

9. “And yet it does not appear that those numerous chastisements have done any good. On the contrary, luxury increases every day, lawless passions are inflamed, and men go on in crimes and profligacy (meaning loss of principles, abandon to vice, Webster ) more shamelessly than ever.”

10. “In short, those very calamities appear to have been so many excitements to luxury and splendour. What then should we expect but to be bruised with heavier blows?”

11. ‎ Isaiah 9:13-17 “For after all this punishment, the people will still not repent. They will not seek the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. Therefore, in a single day the LORD will destroy both the head and the tail, the noble palm branch and the lowly reed.: ‎

12. “The leaders of Israel are the head, and the lying prophets are the tail. For the leaders of the people have misled them. They have led them down the path of destruction. That is why the Lord takes no pleasure in the young men and shows no mercy even to the widows and orphans.”

13. “For they are all wicked hypocrites, and they all speak foolishness. But even then the LORD’s anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike.”

14. Isaiah 9:18-19a “This wickedness is like a brushfire. It burns not only briers and thorns but also sets the forests ablaze. Its burning sends up clouds of smoke. The land will be blackened by the fury of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.”

15. “burneth—makes consumption, not only spreading rapidly, but also consuming like fire: Sin is its own punishment.” Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

16. Isaiah 9:19b-20 “The people will be fuel for the fire, and no one will spare even his own brother. They will attack their neighbor on the right but will still be hungry. They will devour their neighbor on the left but will not be satisfied. In the end they will even eat their own children.”

17. 21 “Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, Ephraim will feed on Manasseh, and both will devour Judah. But even then the LORD’s anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike.”

18. “hungry—not literally. Image from unappeasable hunger, to picture internal factions, reckless of the most tender ties ( Family ties ) Isaiah 9:19, and insatiably spreading misery and death on every side.” Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

19. “The Lord of armies uses human sin to consume sinners, and people consume one another trying to satisfy their own desires.” Tom Constable

20. “The tribes here specified are chosen for two reasons: First, because Judah and Joseph were the most important branches of the stock of Israel, as well before as after the disruption; and

21. Secondly, because the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh were more nearly related to each other than to any of the rest, and therefore their hostility afforded the most striking illustration which the Prophet has described as prevalent.” Joseph Addison Alexander

22. Isaiah 10:1-4 “What sorrow awaits the unjust judges and those who issue unfair laws. They deprive the poor of justice and deny the rights of the needy among my people. They prey on widows and take advantage of orphans.”

23. “What will you do when I punish you, when I send disaster upon you from a distant land? To whom will you turn for help? Where will your treasures be safe? You will stumble along as prisoners or lie among the dead. But even then the LORD’s anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike.”

24. “Ephraim had more reason to fear God than she had to fear Assyria. Yahweh would discipline her because of her pride, corrupt leadership, selfishness, and oppression of her vulnerable citizens. She would not suffer defeat because of military inferiority but for moral inadequacy.” Tom Constable

25. “The bow of God’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all,

26. that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood. Thus all you that have never passed under a great change of heart, by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls; all you that were never born again,

27. and made new creatures, and raised from being dead in sin, to a state of new, and before altogether unexperienced light and life, are in the hands of an angry God.” Johnathan Edwards

29. Please turn to Ephesians 6:10